Housing sales in EU see downturn in 2023

By Sahika Olgun

ISTANBUL (AA) - House transactions fell in 13 out of 16 EU countries in 2023 compared to the previous year, Eurostat said Tuesday.

Luxembourg saw the largest decrease in the number of housing transactions in 2023 with 43.3%, while Greek Cyprus saw the largest rise with 31%.

Moreover, most of the reporting countries posted declines in sales for the second year running.

House sales statistics are provided by member states on a voluntary basis.

Ten out of the 16 reporting EU countries also saw drops in the number of sales in 2022.

The largest fall was seen in Denmark with 24.8%, while the number of sales in Greek Cyprus jumped 27.4%.

In contrast, home sales climbed in 14 EU countries in 2021.

The housing market was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Due to lockdown measures, residential transactions experienced a general decline, with only four out of 16 EU countries seeing an increase in sales.